For Dinner: Lobster Newburg, tossed
salad
Mood: The ol' wanderlust is about to hit....
Written in the Year of our Lord 3580, March 27th,
Wednesday night.Location: The Fel arcology on the city Vagnar on the continent of Laufey,
near the Ran ocean, on Loki.

This morning, I was trying to sample some other
Lokiite arts. They have music, and I was playing a musical tape.
It sounded to me like people screaming at different pitches. My ears
weren't attuned to the air pressure here, perhaps, to appreciate it fully.
Or maybe it was really tortured people screaming. I was afraid to ask.

Glutheim came with a proposal. "You've been
here in the arcology for a while, but of course our world is bigger and
more complex than that. We're going to arrange a tour of Loki. I'll
be accompanying you, and your two guards and of course any children they
have...."

Startled, I said, "That's right.
During the childbonding years, the parents can't be very far from
the child, can they?"

"Of course not. Or at least the mother can't...oh.
" He paused. "That's right. Your parents can leave their children for a
time, can't they?"

I nodded.

"I'm envious. I remember when I was a young mother..."

This changing of the sexes thing at age
forty will take some getting used to, I thought.

"Anyway, we'll be able to see thordeths on
the Ran ocean, or the mighty Nibulud river teeming with hymflees, We'll
be able to see cities like Hyrrokin, Salaupp, and Raleighd.
We can give you a little more idea of the range of our world, and its possibilities."

He sighed, as if about to say something
distasteful. "I understand Nirut wants to travel with us, also, at least
as far as Hyrrokin. Derheim has agreed."

"Hmmm. So we'll have two priests, two
soldiers, and one politician and at least one child. I think we need one
more member."

"Oh?"

"A psychiatrist."

Still, I wanted to go. It didn't
do much good to be on another planet when all you saw was sterile corridors
and buildings. You wanted to feel the world, get a taste of its raw nature.

"It'll be several days....next Monday,
in your terms. I have preparations to make. Enjoy your time here
in the Fel arcology while you can."

He left me, and I reflected that
Dante never stayed in one place very long in THE INFERNO, either.